Supplemental: Hull Repairs for Humans, Apollo Expedition
Hull Repairs
There are many Commanders on the Apollo XV 50th Anniversary expedition that have signed up for the Deep Space Repairs role (o7 to you all). As there is more to the process than just firing a repair limpet, The Hull Seals have prepared this document to share some hopefully helpful tips.
The easy bit is firing the repair limpet; the hard part is getting there. Most of you will already be familiar with navigating across the galaxy, but you may not have much experience in communications and troubleshooting instancing issues.
Stage One starts with the client (the person with the damaged hull) sending a friend request to the mechanic (the one who said they would try and repair). This allows for in game communications, which will make the process easier for both parties. I will not explain the mechanism in use by the different platforms; however if you need help, please feel free to ask in the #refuelers-and-repair channel on Discord.At this point you can confirm the client is where they think they are. You would be surprised how many get their system wrong. You can sort out your navigation using conventional jumps, or the flashier among you, Neutron Jumps.
Stage Two is setting up the wing mechanism (or team in Odyssey). This is handy for keeping an eye on the clients’ shield and hull state, and will also show their location. The client will also be able to follow your majestic progress as you head towards them. To add someone to a Wing, go into the Communications panel of your ship, select the third tab, find your Friend’s name, select them, right click and a drop down menu allows you to add them to a wing. Like the Friend request, the other person has to accept it. If all has gone well, you should get the wing icons on your HUD.But the main purpose of the wing/team mechanism is to make the client much easier to find when you arrive in the correct system. This is done with the Wing Beacon, a mechanism that will highlight the client on both your radar and targeting system. It is the client who needs to turn their beacon on. To do this select the right hand HUD panel, select the Function tab at the top, then the Ship tab on the left, scroll down to Beacon, and select Wing.
Stage Three. If everything has gone according to plan, when you arrive in the clients system, you should see a blue box; this is where hopefully you will find the client. You just drop on this as you would any other signal source, and if all has gone well, you have arrived in the instance with the client. It is good practice to get both the client and the mechanic to either open their cargo hatch or drop landing gear, this prevents either from accidentally boosting into the other. You can also point your ship away from the client for super safety. You can now do the easy bit and fire your repair limpet. We would normally celebrate a successful rescue with a selection of fish, but you are free to find your own way.
However (there is always a however), not everything may have gone to plan. The process that Elite uses to get you in the same space as your client is called instancing, and believe it or not, it does not always work. You know it has gone wrong when you drop in on the wing signal only to find the clients beacon, but not the client. Most times, this is because the client is within the exclusion zone of a star or planet. These are simple to sort out, get the client to move 5ls from the body, and try again.
Odyssey however is full of playful instancing issues, and if the above does not work, then both of you try going completely out of the game (and launcher), and coming back in. If that does not work, then dropping out of Odyssey and into Horizons usually does the trick.
If you need help or further advice please post to the #refuelers-and-repair channel in the expeditions Discord, you should get help fairly quickly. If your rescue becomes completely unglued, you can always suggest that your client contact us. We will be happy to come and fire a limpet (and maybe some fish) at you.
The Hull Seals are the Elite Dangerous hull repair specialists. But we specialize in other types of rescues too, stuck SRV’s, broken canopies and contamination by Thargoid gunk. If you need a repair, you can contact us at https://hullseals.space
If you find you have run out of Fuel, please contact the Fuel Rats at www.fuelrats.com.